397395 posts as of 10:44pm 5-1-03

[Ec]

i dont see how a gtech has the room or capability to display 72,000hp + 310 tonnes..

ooh used my brain (very rare).. dial in 1 tonne and then multiply the power by 300... or something?

[Billzilla]

Yes, actually, Jason, that hashappened!

The funniest one was when we were test flying one of the planes before handing it back at the end of the contract, and so one of the tests was a high-speed run. The guy supervising the test told me to test the high-speed wanring system and the Flight Engineer who knows me well just buried head in his hands and said, "Ooohhh nnooooooo ...."
The photo's I took of the plane at maximum speed I did hand flying the plane with one hand and with the other taking the pics. The F/E offered to take them for me, "Bill do you think it's a good idea to be doing that? I'll take them for you ..."
"Nah, I'm fine!"
More head shaking ....

[Billzilla]

They don't EC, I just divided by 100, so the 'car' weighed only 3.52 tonnes, etc.

[BALISTC]

Hmmmm, how quick do you reckon the 747 would be down the 1/4 mile??

Would my WRX beat it????? :D

Seriously though, would the 747 do a 60 footer faster than a car??

[Tex]

Originally posted by BALISTC
Seriously though, would the 747 do a 60 footer faster than a car??

I'd bloody doubt it!

Tex

[cyph]

Hmmmm, how quick do you reckon the 747 would be down the 1/4 mile??

Would my WRX beat it?????

till you got in front of it at full thrust.

then the sucking of the engines would drag you back? :D

hrm, I can see it now

"Idiots WRX sucked into jet engine on drag strip"

[BALISTC]

Okay, then if my car is faster than the 747 up to a certain point,

I say lets line up a drag race......me in the WRX, vs Bill in his 747 :D

[tandy ass]

This thread is amazing, I'll be asking Bill for a flight next time he's in melbourne

[excelboy]

didnt porsche aust or new zealand (is there a porsche NZ????) lined up a GT3 with Peter Fitzgerald behind the wheel and a fighter plane.... the run seemed fairly even until take-off........

the fighter pilot said the trouble was throttling up the engines without creeping forward while under brakes......

[Tex]

The main difference in the two situations is that compared to a 747, a Fighter is extremely lightweight. So a fighter may be very quick to begin moving.

A 747, at 3 hundred and something tonnes (assuming it is carrying passengers/cargo/whatever) is going to take a while to get moving, even if it does have 4 engines...

Bill will no doubt know more detailed info on this though.

And Bill, I'm pissed I didn't get to meet you either of the last two times I've been up in QLD.

Tex

[Fatboy]

Bill, please let me know if you ever join Qantas or Virgin airlines so i can avoid flying with them... you're mad !! :p

Cheers,
Paul...

P.S. Actually, you're into race cars right ?? How about next time you are in Sydney i let you do some laps in my shitty Mazda, then you let ME fly your plane ?? Pleeeeez...

[Cole-Trickle]

great info there Bill keep it up

Cheers

[Billzilla]

Jeez, I'm gone for a few hours and I missed all this stuff!!!

BALISTC - Dunno, but it'd be pretty slow I reckon. Try something hideously overpowered, like the old English Electric Lightning, which can accelerate vertically well in excess of 1G. More here - http://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/contents.html
If I was to own a fighter, it'd be a Lightning, none of these nany computer controlled girly missile platforms, just f**king big engines and razor blades for wings! :D

Bozz - I should be in Melbourne some time this month, though I'm not sure when exactly at this point. Roster changes & stuff.

Excelboy - I haven't been in anything like that, but in the old Cessna Citation business jet I used to fly, one night going out of Bankstown I was widing the power up for take-off and I noticed that we were moving on the wet runway. I pushed the brakes harder, but it didn't matter because the wheels were already locked. We were still a long way from full thrust as well - I can't imagine how much grunt the fighters have.

Tex, we can have a guess as to how fast the 747 would accelerate, as we know the thrust and the weight of the plane in pounds.
Lightweight take-off, say, 210 tonnes = 462,000lbs
Full thrust RR-RB211-D4X x 4 = 212,000lbs
That's a power to weight ratio of .459, so it'd get up & go pretty quick.
Make the plane at max weight, 831,500lbs then it goes down to only 0.255.
I'll work out some figures for a typical car to see roughly what's equivelent. Gimme some more time though.
Don't worry too much about not catching up with me in QLD - Pretty much no matter where in the world you are I'll be there at some point.

FatBoy, am I into racing cars? Just a little bit!
I'll take you up on your offer but I may not fit - I'm two metres tall and take up a lot of room. I don't think I can help with the flying of my plane though.

Thanks guys.

Top secret - Things may be changing for me soon and if it all goes well I'll be getting a job back in Aus - for good.
I can't wait.

[Sketchy]

somewhat off topic Bill and probably a very long shot here, but do you still do flight instructing? I've been pondering doing this for a while and my mother gave me a shot out of the blue today and suggested i give it a try.

After i recovered from the shock it got me thinking, so i figured i'd ask the only pilot type person I have access to at this point in time :D

Also, what does it cost to get started flying? lessons only obviously, not buying the plane :p

[No-Logic]

Bill you rock.

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